Mountain Mother Runner

A few months ago, I planned out my tentative race schedule for the year. One race per month seemed fairly realistic between my husband’s schedule and me relying on him to watch Eisley while I race. That being said, sometimes life throws you a curve-ball and you have to improvise. Adapt and overcome, right? Well, my husband booked a mini trip to celebrate his birthday the same weekend as Race Beneath the Sun . Photo by Scott Allen Instead of canceling the event, I contacted the Race Director out of curiosity to ask if jogging strollers were allowed. She replied that someone did it with a stroller the previous year, but the C. Moore loop would be pretty difficult! I view ‘difficult’ as being a challenge, and I sure do love a good challenge. The race is hosted by Greater Bellingham Running Club and the course is 5 miles that are mainly trail, including some hills and a challenging climb up C. Moore loop trail, which is luckily only ¼ mile. Morning of the race, I ate some oatmeal a...

Last year I took a ‘How to Make Kombucha’ class at the local co-op. Our instructor was Julie, the owner of OLY Cultures , based out of Olympia, WA. Her business sells ‘live’ culture starter kits for kombucha, milk kefir, water kefir, and mozzarella and ricotta cheese in addition to teaching cooking and instructional classes. We got to taste different flavor combinations and ask lots of questions! Once I had my complete kombucha starter kit, my journey of brewing booch began! If you are familiar with brewing kombucha at home, then you know that with each batch, the SCOBY doubles itself, or simply grows another baby SCOBY. A SCOBY is a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast, supporting the immune system and improving digestive health! At first I ordered a gallon size jar to use as a SCOBY hotel. Once that started to fill up, I’d give cut up SCOBY to our pup as a probiotic dog treat, blended up a cleansing SCOBY face mask, and added SCOBY pieces to our smoothies. I started to expe...

Do you ever wake up and think, “How can I wreck my legs today?” Well, I’ve got the answer for you! Venture out on a hike up to Oyster Dome wearing 40lbs worth of baby and gear on your back. The hike is 6.58mi roundtrip, the highest point is 2,025ft and there's an elevation gain of 1,975ft! I had never done this hike before, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. My previous hikes wearing the baby had been fairly easy and shorter distances, so I wasn’t going to be upset if we had to turn around early. Eisley can be VERY loud and will let me (and anyone within a mile radius) know that she doesn’t want to be carried anymore. This trip was meant to be a time for relaxing and bonding between us, not anything forced or uncomfortable.   I went online to find some information on the hike before heading out to Bow, WA. A Discover Pass is required for parking. They are only $30 annually or you can purchase a $10 day pass. Heading from Bellingham, we drove South on Chuckanut Drive. T...

Did you know it’s the 7 th annual Hemp History Week (June 6-12)? Industrial hemp is such a misunderstood crop and has incredible potential to improve our country’s overall health, farming industry, textile industry, and economic crisis. Celebrate with me by indulging in this delicious and easy Blueberry Hemp Protein Smoothie! The Hemp History Week website is full of useful information, and talks about the sustainability of hemp, its complete nutrition, innovation, and economic potential.   “Hemp heals Earth. Its long taproot helps mitigate erosion and it has potential to remediate poor soil. As a rotation crop hemp can break disease cycles. It is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth making hemp very efficient at atmospheric carbon sequestration. Hemp’s high pollen content makes it a favorite of bees and other pollinator species, and since hemp requires no petroleum-based chemicals to grow, it does not contaminate the environment.”   Simply focusing on t...

At some point last December, I found myself searching the internet for upcoming races to kick off 2016. My New Year’s Resolution was to start taking running more ‘seriously’. I wanted to try something new. I wanted an adventure. I needed a goal to work towards so my training would have some sort of direction. Eureka! The Fragrance Lake Half Marathon/10k was just the event I was looking for. Who wouldn’t want to attempt 1,685ft of elevation gain?! This would be my very first trail race, in fact; I had barely run on trails before…so I purchased my first pair of trail running shoes. The next question was, which distance do I sign up for? My confident, competitive side was screaming “HALF MARATHON!” while my realistic side chose the 10k. I didn’t want to be too optimistic. There were only six weeks until the race and I had to balance training with being a stay at home mom. Preparing for a trail run with the majority of your workouts being in the gym (thank you drop-in childcare), not outs...

Happy Global Running Day! Since I dove deep into the world of running, something stood out to me that I hadn’t noticed before. I started connecting with people in the running community, locally and all over the world, regardless of language barriers, race, religion, etc. I realized how united we are. Running is like a universal language (similar to happiness), that allows us to relate to one another and better understand each other. We all know the sense of accomplishment when we cross the finish line. We all know how hard it can be to roll out of bed and go out on an early morning run, when it’d be much easier to stay snuggled in bed. Although it is still technically a ‘competition’, runners always seem to be extremely supportive of their opponents, cheering and motivating them to keep pushing strong. I am so happy that I’ve discovered this ‘new world’ and urge you to do some discovering for yourself! Curious about Global Running Day? So far, over 2 MILLION people have pledged ...